10 January on this day
PETER Marinello celebrates a goal after only 14 minutes of his Arsenal debut against Manchester United at Old Trafford on 10 January 1970. A few days earlier, 19-year-old Marinello, dubbed the Scottish George Best, had become Arsenal’s record and first-ever six-figure signing when he moved from Hibs for £100,000. But the dream soon turned sour as he struggled with injury and the lure of the bright lights, leaving Highbury in July 1973, heading for Portsmouth and finishing at Partick Thistle in 1984. Marinello only played three games in Arsenal’s 1970-71 double-winning season. He suffered similar bad luck in his business life, was declared bankrupt and, when his autobiography came out in 2007, it was titled Fallen Idle.